The Eighth Brain
by Egg Emperor
Summary: A story centered around a 15 year old Max Maple and his challenge of the battle frontier. Little did he know the frontier had changed since the times of Ash. After defeating Brandon the Pyramid King he finds he still has one last challenge to face, can he brave the Battle Dimension and dethrone it's elusive Prince, who now lords over the whole frontier?"
1. Prologue 1 Rising Star Seeks the Heavens

**The Eighth Brain**

By Egg Emperor

**Prologue Part 1: A Rising Star Seeks the Heavens**

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May 22nd 2007 11:34 AM – Snowpoint City Pokemon Center

As fifteen year old Max Maple looked at himself in the mirror, he analyzed what he saw. Looking over things, studying them till his eyes were tired, was a strong suit of his. Sure his sister May and many of his friends thought it made him obnoxious especially when he shared his conclusions with others.

Personally he thought his Coordinator sister was far more of a brat than he was, with her constant temper tantrums and scary disposition, she could go from sweet as honey to as cuddly as a Cacnea.

A situation which only grew worse as she began to spend time around that hammer wielding water demon, known as Misty Waterflower. He shivered at the thought of her.

Thinking on a particular incident, where an angered Misty had sicked her Gyarados on her cheating boyfriend gave him chills. Just the memory of the event made Max's blood run cold.

"Man that girl really is insane; I wonder what Ash was thinking when he decided to travel with her for three years."

Perhaps Misty had not been as hard on Ash as she was on others, though if the stories Brock told him were to be believed that was far from the case.

The more he thought about it the more he recognized something strange.

"When I first met Misty, the reaction Ash had at her arrival was surreal." Max himself was never one for fawning over girls though he did show interest; Ash he was just plain oblivious them.

That wasn't true for Misty though, he remembered seeing Ash light up at just seeing her.

"Maybe he loved her?" Or perhaps it was just a strong platonic friendship?

Though he mentally added that perhaps Ash suffering brain damage at the hands of Misty's famous hammer was a far simpler solution.

Returning his musing to himself he studied his reflection, in the many years that had passed since he became a trainer he had most certainly changed. He had grown to a rather impressive 5' 11" in height, and as far as he knew, he was still growing. The day he grew taller than May was one of happiest of his life.

He had kept himself fit, and with all the training and all traveling he did, mostly by foot, he had acquired a well-muscled frame.

Long having since replaced his glasses with contacts, his dark gray eyes shown back at him uninhibited. Even with his glasses gone the habit of placing his fingers against the bridge of his nose, attempting to adjust the non-existent eye ware, in response to certain situations hadn't disappeared. His blue black hair was now cut short and no longer framed his ears it now was combed back away from his forehead slicked past the sides, finally spiking up in the back.

He though back to a month or so ago when Dawn dropped by his sister and her met again on the coordinating circuit and became fast friends so it wasn't all that unusual for her to come for a visit.

She had said that Max "…had turned into a real hottie." Much in fact to May's horror and chagrin. Max smiled at the recollection, that statement, if anything sure gave his self-image a boost and his sister's face was beyond priceless.

His grin, however, quickly turned into a frown when he remembered the rest of the conversation. Namely, of course because she just had to add the statement, "… only if you didn't know him."

She went on to say that as long as he kept his mouth shut he might have a chance at getting a girlfriend.

"All and all Max buddy you look pretty good, you certainly don't look bad." Max said, while smiling at his reflection.

A stifled snicker of laughter sounded, breaking Max from his thoughts.

"Complementing yourself? Wow Max and people say that we coordinators have big egos." May said with a smirk on her face.

"Stuff it May, your ego is bigger than your Blastoise and the entire world knows it, although..." Max paused for dramatic effect, a rather malicious grin upon his face.

"…There is one thing bigger, considering all the food you shovel down at every meal, the biggest thing about you is you fat a..." he was cut off before he could finish

"Max, you finish that sentence and, **I**, will end **you!**"

The demonic look in May's eyes left no doubt to the truth of her statement; Max for his part, realizing that he was on the verge of a very painful experience decided it was best not to provoke his sister further.

He still had a Frontier challenge to complete and egging his sister into committing fratricide was not going to help him do it.

He finished getting dressed, putting on a red and blue shirt overlaid with a red and white jacket. A pair of simple green sneakers and the gray jeans he already wore finished his outfit.

He now had seven symbols, defeating Pyramid King Brandon and earning the Brave symbol after finally locating the man near Snowpoint city. Thinking back to the battle which occurred only a few days prior, Max acknowledged that it was the toughest one he had ever had. Facing those three golems was a challenge that took all he had and then some. In the end it was Brandon's final pokemon that worried him

So he secretly thanked Arceus when he learned that Regigigas preferred sleeping and oddly enough, tending flowers in its temple's garden over battling.

Watching the massive giant religiously tend to the many plants that grew around the temple after the spring thaw was peculiar sight. Max though it would have been almost endearing were it not for the knowledge that the behemoth could crush his skeleton into powder without any effort.

As Max walked down the hall to the pokemon center's cafeteria he began to think on how the battle might have gone had he had to fight against the titanic pokemon.

As it was the Regi trio was bad enough, but their massive master would have been completely different. If Max was honest with himself he knew his chances of defeating the Colossal Pokemon were very slim. So when the massive golem expressed to Brandon that he did not wish to battle and would rather tend to his roses, Max was very much relieved.

In the end Brandon substituted his Solrock for the Golem King.

A smirk now on his face, Max walked down the hall.

"Which was no match for my Banette, of course the type advantage was obvious and since Banette is a better at launching special attacks and Solrock have much higher defense, then factoring in the added resistance to the Meteorite Pokemon's psychic abilities and Banette's superior speed clinched the battle." Max stated aloud more to himself that anyone around him, as he raised his hand to his face, appearing to adjust an invisible pair of glasses.

Halfway through the motion he caught himself, "Damn it all! I need to kick this habit, it makes me look like a total nerd."

"And that little speech you just made doesn't?" retorted Lisa, one of his traveling companions and one of the other two trainers from Petalburg that started their journey a little over five years ago.

May who was sitting at the table scarfing down breakfast in a manner that would make her Munchlax envious, began to laugh only to choke on her food a moment later and descend into a massive coughing fit.

Seeing his sister's predicament only made Max smile, to him divine justice had been wrought. Evan, Max's other traveling companion and the third of the Petalburg three, came walking to the table with a tray of food just as the commotion reached its climax. Eyeing the coughing coordinator who was by now being ministered to by her boyfriend Drew, a smirking Max and rather bewildered Lisa, he just simply shrugged and sat down to eat his meal.

"So Max are you ready…. to see Scott about finishing the challenge, he said…. that today he would fill you in…. on the final Brain and where their battle facility is." Eric inquired between bites of eggs and pancakes.

"Who would have thought that there was another Frontier Brain after Brandon?" May interjected having finally recovered from her coughing spell.

"Not just that, I hear this new guy beat out Brandon as the Leader of the Frontier, Brandon is now the public face of the Brains while this guy leads them from behind the scenes. Also apparently he's a ridiculously powerful trainer, stronger than Brandon by far, so don't go getting cocky. You barely managed to beat Brandon, and that was mainly because pansy loving Regigigas didn't want to fight..."

"Hey! That's pretty screwed up insulting him because he didn't what to battle…" Max interjected.

"You didn't let me finish! I wasn't being insulting, I meant that he really likes pansies, he was off watering a whole field of them by the temple this morning."

"Oh! Sorry Lise" Max sheepishly responded.

"Now back to what I was saying, you can't get cocky Maxie, or else you going to get your ass handed to you on a plate, you just got by Brandon on a wing and a prayer. If you even want to have a Snorunt's chance in the reverse world, of beating this guy you're going to have to train double time." Lisa stated pointing her fork at Max in an effort to drive her message home.

"I guess the frontier has changed since Ash took the challenge." May said softly.

Max gave his sister a small sad smile.

Ash, the trainer who he thought of as more of a brother than a friend, who mentored both his sister and him on their journey through Hoenn seven long years ago, not a day has gone by without Max thinking about him.

Max was only eight at the time and though their meeting was rocky at best, he came to admire the young trainer and in the end wanted to be just like him. He had hoped to not only see him again but finally battle him. Though at this point he wasn't sure if that battle would ever happen…

Max himself had turned nine when Ash had finished the Frontier Challenge; by the time he had turned ten Ash had made the Top 4 in the Lilly of The Valley Conference in Sinnoh. After proving himself and placing Top 8 in the Evergrande Conference Max felt he was ready. Confident he was now an accomplished trainer, he took a ship to Pallet town in order challenge the Indigo League and to claim the battle that Ash promised him so long ago. Little did he know at the time he debarked from the Cinnabar-Pallet ferry, that what he would reap from this visit was not a memorable challenge, but a hole in his very heart…

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_**Author's Notes:**_

Ok, I know I'm evil leaving off at a cliff hanger right off the bat, for the very first chapter of my very first story. But you know what I **AM EVIL** **MUHAHAHAH!** Returning to reality, in all seriousness I was going to continue from this point for maybe another 500-800 words, but I decided that a perfect chapter break had presented itself and who am I to deny the story its whims.

Now on to a few actual notes:

1) For now this story is rate T (Teen) it may go up to M (Mature) if I decide to either up the violence or the swearing.

2) There will be no romance for the foreseeable future in this story. Reasons why it's an Adventure/Drama/Action Story and plus I'm just not good at romance to begin with.

3) Max's starter was a Treeko , now a Sceptile, as previously stated he has a Banette as well. He also returned for Ralts, which is now fully evolved. I will give you readers a choice between either Gardevoir or Gallade , in a poll. The poll will remain open for a while since the prologue will last at least 2, perhaps even 3 chapters, so that most of Max's pokemon will not appear until chapter 3 perhaps 4 at the earliest.

4) Next to last but not least there is a poll up for my 4 stories, I will finish the 2 or 3 chapters that comprise the prologue of this story, and then will defer to the poll, If this story wins I will continue on with the first real chapters, if another wins then this story will go on hiatus, and I will start on that story. Then I will return to this one. Later after this is complete another poll will be held to determine the order of the last two.

5) Finally I have a question for you all; there is significance to the date this chapter takes place on specifically, May 22nd. If you can figure out the significance PM me the answer; the first person to send me the correct answer, will get a treat, namely a decision to choose from a group of pokemon for a trainer near the story's conclusion.

This is Egg Emperor signing off for now; look forward to the next chapter of this story _Prologue Part 2: Ghost Stories_, by at the latest this weekend if not perhaps as soon as tomorrow.


	2. Prologue 2 Ghost Stories

**The Eighth Brain**

By Egg Emperor

**Prologue Part 2: Ghost Stories**

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Ok this here we go the second chapter of the three part prologue. It's a bit longer than the previous one. Nearly the entirety of this chapter is flash back. It is extremely dialogue heavy and it sets up a lot of important details namely a lot of history of Pallet and Pokemon training in general. THERE IS A LARGE AND I MERE LARGE, Author's Notes section at the end, it contains important information about this story's future. **No! It's not being cancelled, just switched out for another one of my works I feel I can do it justice. The details are at the very end of the Author's Notes.**

Also no one has yet correctly guessed the significance of the date of May 22, the day Max will attempt to challenge the final area of the Frontier and its Brain. If you figure it out PM me, you will be rewarded with the ability to choose a plot detail later in the story.

Ok from this point on thoughts will be in single quotes '', while speech will be in normal double quotes ""

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_Four Years ago_: June 17th 2003 9:47 AM- Pallet Town.

An eleven year old Max Maple ran down the gangplank of the Cinnabar Star, the ferry that runs daily between the port and tourist town of Cinnabar Island.

"Oh I can't wait, I can't wait, I can't wait, I can't believe the day has finally arrived I'm going to be able to challenge Ash to a battle." Max nearly shouted as he ran across the pier nearly knocking several people into the water.

"Yahoo! Yeah alright! This is gonna be so awesome!"

The people of Pallet – a little town smack dab in the middle of the Kan-Sin-Jo region* – were quite used to rambunctious youngsters running about.

For despite its rather modest population of just under 5,000 it comparatively produces more trainers per person than any other place in the world. In fact most of its people either are or were at one point some sort of Pokémon trainer.

As such the people only smiled and went about their daily lives, unperturbed by Max's shouting.

"Huff ah ha ha." 'Maybe I should have just walked.' Max thought to himself as he crested the final hill separating him from the center of the small burg, wheezing to catch his breath.

He had been so excited that shot off like a bullet towards the town's main road. It was only after five straight minuets of running that he both made it to his destination and exhausted his previously seemingly boundless energy.

As he looked down from the hill top while recovering from being winded he saw it. Perched on a hill was a large building, easily the biggest in the small city. The windmill perched on its roof spun lazily in the morning breeze.

'There it is' he thought, "Professor Oak's Laboratory, I really can't believe I'm going to see him again in person so soon!"

Professor Samuel Oak is by most standards, the most highly regarded and respected of the many Pokémon experts across the world.

The Pokedex as well as the temporal containment system for the modern Pokeball were his direct inventions, he is also the leading expert if not sole authority on the Two Mythic Pokémon, the Mirage Pokémon Mew** and the Time Travel Pokémon Celebi.

Max decided to visit the professor before going to see Ash.

He excitedly bounded up the steps and rang the bell.

"Coming!" shouted a voice that Max recognized as the professor's.

"Samuel! WHAT on EARTH are you doing? You stay off that sprained ankle or you're only going to make it worse!" Another voice nearly screeched, one which Max did not recognize.

"Sorry…"

"You SHOULD BE! Forcing me to come down from the plateau right before the start of the season, all because you were climbing some damn tree to look at a shiny Pidgy! For Arceus's sake! We're not kids anymore Sam, you could have been seriously hurt or worse. Sometimes I wonder about you sanity you ol' duff."

The voice, which continued to chastise the professor, became louder as it approached the door, at this point Max could identify it as being female, likely an older woman…. Max was shocked from his thoughts by the door opening.

"Hello young man may I help you?" Ask the rather dignified old lady who answered the door.

Max looked at her with a mixture of awe and fear.

She was wearing a simplistic royal purple dress that ended near her ankles and matching purple shoes. A white lace apron fanned out from around her waist; another ring of the material surrounded her neck. Below her neck was a cameo brooch a black and white carving of a Noctowl adorned it.

Her fading blond hair rose up from a prominent window's peak flowing down the sides of her head, ending just above her neck. Her left hand rested on a gnarled cane its top fashioned in the likeness of a Hoothoot.

A small nearly mischievous smile adorned her wrinkled face; her blue-gray eyes twinkled with what could be described as cool fire. Standing only 5'5" to Max's 5'3" she would seem unassuming if it were not for the palpable and eerie feeling of power that radiated from her.

The tales Ash had told of her from his childhood simply did not do her justice; she was a thousand times more splendid and terrifying than any story would lead one to believe.

Agatha Oak, wife of Professor Samuel Oak, Mistress of Ghost-type Pokémon and 3rd of the Kanto Elite Four stood before our young hero.

"Dearie, did you need something?" the elite inquired at Max's long silence

"Ahhhh… No, I'm sorry I … it's just I'm rather overwhelmed… just meeting you like this Mrs. Oak." was Max's timid response.

"Ah ha ha ha … O' it's quite all right my dear, I get that a lot. I suppose you're here to see the old coot eh?" Agatha said while she led Max inside to the living room, where the professor apparently sat his ankle elevated on a pillow with a cold pack on it. Even from this distance Max noticed it looked visibly swollen.

Max grinned shyly, "If by 'old coot' you mean Professor Oak, then yes."

"Oh ha ha ha ha ah! Where did you find this one Sam? I like him."

"Oh! Hello there Max, what brings you all the way to Kanto and to Pallet no less?"

"I'm here mostly to challenge the Indigo league, and see the region where modern battling was born, among other things."

"AH! Fresh meat eh?" Agatha's already piercing eyes narrowed and took on an unsettling gleam, her wide smile reminding Max of the ghosts she was so famous for.

"Now Aggie, Max here isn't exactly a green horn, he traveled with Ash during his Hoenn challenge, he also just made the Top 4 in the most recent Ever Grande Conference, being the son of a respected Gym Leader doesn't hurt his chances either." The professor explained.

"A Gym Leader?"

"He's Max Maple, Norman Maple's son." The Professor affirmed shifting his foot to make himself more comfortable.

"Ah, OH! So that why I felt as though I'd seen you before."

"Sooooo…your Norman's boy eh? AH HA HA HA!" Agatha's grin became even wider if it were possible, and if the smile she had before was unsettling, the smirk she now bore could only be described as downright frightening.

She closely resembled what could be called a caricature of her most infamous Pokémon Gengar. Max could swear that for a moment her eyes held a garnet gleam.

"Ah, NOW THAT brings back memories."

"Uh memories of what?" Max hesitantly asked; he was almost afraid to ask.

"Well this could take some time, so … "Ah, Tracy would you be dear and get us some tea and some of those ginger snaps?" Agatha said giving the Pokémon watcher a "sweet" smile.

Max turned just noticing the young man who entered the "house" portion of the building from the lab. Max couldn't help notice that the young assistant's normally laid back and free demeanor was absent, replaced by what seemed a mixture of timidity, apprehension and submission. Max couldn't help but think it was related to Agatha's presence. It was almost comical, like someone had shoved a junior lawyer's personality into the body and mind of a normally chill surfer.

"Yes, Mrs. Oak right away! I'll be right back!" Tracy bolted for the kitchen like he had been shot. Max thought that perhaps Mrs. Oak's smile, at least in Tracy's mind promised a worse fate should he fail her.

"The Pokémon Leagues as you know them have only been around about say 70 years, before that there were local tournaments and what not, but save for the Orange League competition, which is around as old as large scale sailing say 400 years or so, there were no large scale regional or international competitions to speak of." ***

"Here's the tea and those cookies Mrs. Oak." Tracy said as he came racing in, briskly setting the tea set down with a plate of ginger cookies, he straightened up, nodding to both Oaks.

"Now if anyone needs me I'll be tending to the water Pokémon ... At the far pond… On the other side of the Ranch... It may take a while…, so ummmm bye!" was all he said before practically throwing himself out the back door.

"Nice boy, he has a great work ethic, a bit timid though." Agatha thoughtfully observed.

Max and the Professor eyed each other cautiously, each quit aware that if either were to slip and let loose their suppressed snickers, it would spell their doom.

"70 years ago Adam Goodshow, a very, very wealthy entrepreneur at the time went and somehow managed to use his money and connections to start the 6 major leagues that exist today as well as the Royal Grand Championship that crowns the World champion. In fact, Scott Enshida's Battle Frontier is the first new major league like competition created since." The elite trainer expounded, sipping her tea.

"So you see dearie, the gimp over there…" She point to the professor who now sported a rather perturbed look on his face 'though I think perhaps that less from the insult and more from hitting his injured leg with her cane', Max's face showed his thought deadpanning as a result.

"… And I among others were the testing rattata, of this whole new system that Alex Good show devised."

Professor Oak took over for his wife. "Agatha and I along with a boy named Darren Ketchum, Agatha's cousin, were the three that departed Pallet that April, 57 years ago** with a song in our head, spring in our step, and a dream in our hearts. To tame and master these wild beasts called Pokémon and become the very best, to be for a lack of a better word, Pokémon Masters."

"Ketchum, As in Ash?" Max hastily inquired, 'Ash really never talked about his family, sure I've met Delia, Ash's Mom but beyond her, I don't know of any of Ash's other relatives.'

"Yes, my favorite cousin, and Samuel's best friend, he was Ash's Paternal Grandfather" Agatha, smiled, a true sad sort of smile. "He's been gone for about 10 years now." She added

"Wait!? You're related to Ash?" Max looked a bit bewildered.

"Yes, we are The Oaks, Ketchum's, Hales, Wataru's and another prominent family are all interrelated by both blood and marriage." The professor added

"Back to what I was talking about" Agatha said trying to move the conversation back on track.

"The early rough and tumble era of training was a great success, new towns sprung up and prospered, the route system was implemented about ten years in, when I and Sam were in our early twenties but..." Agatha paused upon hearing a noise.

A soft buzzing could now be heard from the couch, indicating that professor Oak had fallen asleep.

Max was terrified 'She's going to kill him or yell her head off or both' he screamed in his head.

So it was much to his surprise when he turned back to Agatha, to see not a mask of rage, but a face of tranquility, happiness; love and perhaps longing.

Her face had softened allowing the wrinkles she bore to show more prominently, but instead of make her appearance harsher, her presence was now warmed by their appearance and a bright twinkle, and different from the cold fire he had seen earlier adorned her eyes.

"Come child, let's let the old man rest" Agatha said as she gather the tea cups and empty plates on the tray, carrying it into the kitchen.

"Let's go to the old coot's study, we won't disturb him there while I finish the rest of the story."

Max followed the elite trainer down the hall passing pictures of Pokémon and People several caught Max's eye and he stopped to look at them.

There were many featuring her grandson Gary, but since this Max guessed was her home, that made sense. But one he noticed was very different.

A man stood in it surrounded by Pokémon. He was very tall most certainly over 6'0"; thin and lanky at waist with long legs, yet his chest and shoulders were broad. He wore a tight black shirt sport shirt of some kind that made every visible muscle on his lithe frame stand out. He had on dark black jeans, themselves tucked into his black boots.

Over his shirt he sported a scarlet jacket with a popped white collar; around his waist a black belt with a silver buckle held six Poke balls.

His face was sharp and angular, and on his head he wore scarlet baseball cap the same color as his jacket which covered his shortly cropped spiky black hair. The most striking thing about him though were his eyes they were crimson in color, they were actually red.

The man in the picture looked more like a movie star than a trainer, he also reminded him of someone but for some reason he could not place it, he figured that resemblance was distant enough that it just wasn't registering in his mind.

"Who, is this guy" he asked Agatha plainly

"Ah well unfortunately dear I can't say that I'm at liberty to tell you. That man worked very hard to keep his public and privet life separate and I'm not going to disrupt that. 'I honestly feel a bit bad now' Max thought realizing that he was prying into another's personal life.

"But I can tell you this he was perhaps the greatest Second Generation trainer ever, and some say the greatest trainer in history, he was one of the few people to have been able to defeat Samuel when he still battled extensively."

'Wow Max thought, just who is this guy, I know for a fact that Professor Oak was the first Champion of Kanto, a title he held for 23 years before stepping down to become the region's resident professor and develop the poked.' Max and Agatha entered the study where all sort of books and awards littered the place.

"He certainly was one of the greatest trainers that pallet ever produced that for damn sure Ahahahaha! Beat me once or twice and fought Sam to a draw when he was only 17. They just don't make 'em like that anymore" the ghost trainer lamented.

"You said something about a second generation trainer, what is that?" Max asked as he sat down in a rather plush arm chair.

"Oh ho ho ho ho ah ah ah ah! Yes, this was wanted to talk to you about in the first place." She chuckled with what Max decided was dark glee, her smile once again metastasizing into an excellent copy of a Gengar's trade mark smirk."

"The first era produced some of the greatest trainers to ever live, like the old fart in the living room or me and my sister Bertha, but for all the benefits the dangers of being pioneers gave us its harsh treatment toughened us conditioned us, but for some it was too much, the causality rate was quite high, many kids got themselves injured or, worse, some never got the chance to come home."

Max was … well he didn't know what to think 'I mean now that I think back on it the worst thing we ever had to deal with on a daily basis were the "three stooges" and an occasional upset Pokémon, I never knew it was ever this dangerous.' Max thought to himself.

"Because of the fatalities including the son of a rather influential politician, the whole of Goodshow's great work looked like it might go up in smoke just 20 years in; however Goodshow still had enough pull and influence to stabilize the situation abet temporarily.

"A more permanent solution was sought and it January of that year after the close of the last of the leagues for the season, a conference was held; the 6 Elite Fours and their Champion's gathered to discuss what was to be done. It was decided that starting age would be raised to 15 and that prospective trainers would have to attend a five year school from age ten until then to be qualified to be trainers." Agatha imparted to Max

"So this was the so called 2nd generation?" Max asked even though at this point he wanted nothing more than go see Ash a have his battle.

"Yes, and you see Ah ha ha ha ha ah, we "elites" were charged with being instructors during the off season. It was in Goldenrod 23 years ago that I met a very interesting young man on my rotation through Johto. He was tall and well-built with good looks, and navy blue hair much like you self in the same cut too." Her eyes got a sort of faraway look but seemed to burn more intensely and her smile once again assumed it's eerie Cheshire shape.

Max could see where this was headed 'If I'm right about who she's talking about and I'm fairly certain I am then I finally understand his thing about ghosts and why he fainted that time I brought home Shuppet, and still won't let Banette in the house.' Max thought.

"O' he was quite handsome for his age and extraordinarily talented, a Psychic trainer he was, a Gallade and Gardevoir his constant companions. He however, had, a few character flaws." Agatha's tone became icy and dark although she continued to smile as she told Max the story. A 'A Psychic trainer, that doesn't make sense if it is who I think it is.' Max thought to himself

"He was a playboy with a different girl every other day it would seem, and he was arrogant and prideful to the extreme, always talking about how inferior other types were and that Psychic reigned supreme, he became so insufferable that one day I decided something had to be done."

"You didn't kill him did you?" Max asked now quivering at Agatha's tone which was as cold as ice and dark as a grave. 'It's not who I thought it was, there is just no way it could be.' Max thought.

"O' dear me no, child no! Ha ha ha ha ah! If I had taken his life you wouldn't be here." Her tone had lightened only to suddenly become as scary as Giratina on a moonless night.

"I just scared him within an inch of it! Fu ha ha ha ah" she chuckled, looking in all her splendor of personality a true master of fear.

Max now realized why people so feared Agatha, she was beyond all shadow of doubt the scariest old lady in the whole Arceus damned world! The smirk she held upon her face would put a Sableye to shame.

" I challenged him to a battle so I might test if he would be ready for the graduation exam, I quite easily showed him just what the power of Ghosts can do especially to something so easily vulnerable to an assault on the senses, confusion, blindness, poison, paralysis, sleep, and nightmares, my Gengar felled all six of his Pokémon. I showed him how much further he needed to go and that even when he got there he still would not be to afford the arrogance he previously showed. To this day he has kept to that humility I gave him mainly because I swore that I track him down if I ever got an inkling that he was getting too big for his britches again. I also might have turned a blind eye when Gengar decided to attach himself to your father's shadow until graduation which was about 2 month away at the time. Even I don't know of all the "pranks" (Read torment and torture) Gengar put him through."

"To this day I wonder if I had anything to do with him changing his preference to the normal type." She explained as she finished her monologue, he smile and tone back to normal.

Max was simply put, shocked, horrified and just plain flabbergasted at the Elite Four's tale. And from it he learned three things.

How shocked he was that his dad was such a douchbag as a young man, how amazed he was at Agatha's brutal approach to modifying said behavior, its effectiveness in transforming aforementioned douchbag into the clam humble and caring man he called his father, and just how bad Agatha was at lying.

' I know that she knows full well that she is likely the sole reason for his father's preference of normal type Pokémon as well as his tendency to jump at shadows and his hatred of horror films.'

"Aggie?" A voice called, Max recognized as belonging to the Professor who had apparently awoken from his nap.

"You're not trying to scare poor Max with one of your old ghost stories now are you?"

"Of course not you ol' badger, I was just telling him about my days as an instructor when education was still mandated for all Pokémon trainers."

"And I'm fairly certain I now understand why my dad fainted when I told him I caught a Shuppet and proceeded to let it out to show him, and why he won't allow Banette outside of its ball in the house." Max grimly replied. As he and Agatha passed the various pictures again returning to the living room.

Max looked at the grandfather clock that sat by the book cases in the corner. It read 2:33 PM; he had been here nearly 4 and half hours, much longer than he originally planned.

The side door opening and closing signaled Tracy's return to the house, likely retreating from the Heat of the midafternoon sun.

Max thanked both Oaks for their hospitality and turned to leave and was nearly out the door, when Agatha inquired of him.

"Max, you said you were her in Kanto to challenge the league; among "Other things" what did you mean by that."

"O' when we were traveling together Ash promised me that when I became a trainer he would battle me, in fact I'm going over to take him up on that offer right now." And with that Max was out the door before any could react. Several seconds passed, before the masks of shock transformed on their respective owners

Tracy bore a face of regret mixed with evident sorrow, Agatha face became a stern mask of grim finality. The reaction of the professor was more immediate and he became visibly upset. "MAX! WAIT, STOP THERE'S SOMETHING WE NEED TO TELL YOU!" The professor yelled with all his might, but by now Max had traveled out of ear shot towards the Ketchum residence.

Momentarily forgetting his injury Professor Oak leapt to his feet intending to give chase, only to collapse in a heap, in a great deal of pain.

It was almost a luck thing that Max was out of hearing range or else the Professor's angry rant would have greatly expanded Max's vocabulary.

"Tracy, go now and get him, he doesn't know and I want to stop him before he causes Delia any more intentional grief. " Oak yelled through gritted teeth, clearly still in much pain.

"Tracy, stop wait…. she needs this, if she talks to someone she can feel better, she needs to stop wallowing and allow herself to heal."

Tracy sided with Agatha, if only because an angry Professor Oak might fire him but an angry Agatha might eat his soul.

"Now all we can do is wait." Agatha said solemnly.

_Four Years ago_: June 17th 2003 2:47 PM- Pallet Town.

As Max stood in front of the Ketchum residence, he immediately noticed something was out of place. The normally immaculate house was missing a few shingles here and there and was badly in need of a coat of white paint. Delia's famous vegetable garden was overgrown with weeds; it looked like it hadn't been used in years.

Max walked up to the front door and rapped upon it, several times, "Coming a tied and rather drained voiced replied as the door opened to reveal Delia Ketchum.

It was this moment that in his heart knew that something was terrible wrong. It was Delia but it wasn't her, face normally covered with a spring tan from her outdoor activities was white and bore many wrinkles, she had dark circles under her eyes and her hair was tied into a bun, some of it appeared to be graying already. She appeared to have aged nearly 20 year.

"Excuse me Mrs. Ketchum, my name is Max if you remember , I was wondering where I could find Ash, he promised me a battle when I became old enough to be a trainer, so I was wondering if you knew where he was.

Delia looked even more depressed, now than Max had mentioned her son.

"I remember you Max, you've grown quite, but having a battle with Ash is not possible"

"You see, he …. he … he's Dead" she finished now with a tear streak face.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Man this thing was a real beast I started working on it 3 days ago and it took off and went a bit off the rails, Agatha was only supposed to be mentioned, not actually appear, so she sort of stole the show a bit. After that the entire thing went nuts, completely out of control, when they say a story really writes itself they are not kidding. I removed most of the crazy when I realized how out of context it was, and how poorly it fit the rest of the story. Instead of deleting it I excised it and published it as a separate standalone chapter you can read it if you want it's, a bit nuts a tad dark.

* I always have imagined Kanto, Johto and Sinnoh as part of a single continent, with Sinnoh perched above the other two, forming something like a triangle, with the mountains in the east of Johto and the west of Kanto merging and moving north to form the spine on which Mt. Coronet sits.

### _**WARNING, THE FOLLOWING IS AN EGG EMPEROR RANT, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED ###**_

This is just a personal peeve of mine but, **CALLING MEW THE "NEW SPECIES" POKEMON MAKES ABSOLUTLY NO SENSE WHAT SO EVER. **The legendaries were created either by Arceus at the beginning of time or by / as embodiments of primeval natural forces very early on in the planet's history. At this time the only common Pokémon were, **MEW**, heck they came before the fossil Pokémon. All non-legendary Pokémon are descended from that vast ancient Mew population. As such Mew is anything but "**NEW**". The argument that it's newly discovered is invalid because the thing is depicted in ancient myth and legend all throughout Kanto, which with only four "natural" is going to take all it can get and run with it. If anything Mewtwo should be the "New Species" and Mew should be the "Genetic" Pokémon respectively. Such a swap makes so much sense that I wonder if it was not intended that way and there was some sort of mix up. So as a compromise, within all my stories Mew's species will be referred to as the Mirage Pokémon.

*** Professor Oak and Agatha are both 72 years old (yes I know I took liberties with this but it's my story). It took around 13 years from the inception of the idea by Alex Goodshow to its completion and implementation so that Agatha and Samuel left on 1st of April following their 13th birthdays, which at the time was the required age to go on one's journey.

**** This is the point where you would insert the removed section I posted as a separate "cutting room floor chapter".

**To the Actual Notes:**

Ok People and by people I mean the 40 or so people who have so far bothered to read this story. I as I stayed up all of last night writing this chapter, the whole story got away from me. I've had the basic framework (idea) for this story since the time that there were only 386 Pokémon i.e. the pokedex ended with Deoxys, that was back in my mid high school years so at least 10th if not 9th grade. Yesterday afternoon as I was putting together a map of the sections of the first part of the story I realized that book one was going to run 19 chapters at the very least not including the prologue chapters. If I average 2,000 words per chapter, then with 19 chapters per book and four books, plus the prologue chapters and an epilogue, I come to a grand total of 80 chapters and 160,000 for the entire story. Also this story unlike my other three is meant to avoid being OC as much as possible. This is hard. It is very difficult as you can see by the section I scrapped. As I rode my bike across perilous traffic, to reach my ecology class (My car is having engine issues) I realized that perhaps I had bitten off more than I can chew by choosing this story to start first.

**Which is why at this point I feel that I cannot do this story the justice the idea deserves, as such it will be put on hiatus, to be completed when I am confident that I can write it such that it will be both enjoyable for me to construct and for you to read. I REPEAT I am not dropping, canceling or abandoning this thing, I've already invested too much time into it and to quote Scratch "He made me persistent, He made you too dumb to quit!" I think that sums up my work nicely.**

Since I'm going put this on aside for now I need a new project to work on namely on of my other three stories that allow me a bit more freedom with disbelief among other things. So I need you guys to go to my profile and vote for which of the remaining three should replace, "_The Eighth Brain"_ in regular syndication. The Poll will remain open until a category accumulates more than 8 votes or the difference between first and second place is 3 which ever happens first.


	3. From the Cutting Room Floor: Great War

_This was created in the late hours of June 4, 2013 and early hours of June 5, 2013. It was later removed because it was really, for those who get the reference "A Big-lipped Alligator Moment". It had no bearing on the plot at all and just sort of came together out of nowhere. This is why it's being posted as an auxiliary chapter and not as part of the main chapter. If I get enough people asking for it I may later piece this back with the parts of prologue #2 I saved and recreate the original chapter a post it as a standalone one-shot._

**FROM THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR, **

**THE GREAT WAR STORY FROM**

**THE EIGHTH BRAIN**

**REMOVED BECAUSE IT JUST DIDN'T FIT IN THE STORY **

**THE FACT THAT IT JUST KEPT GOING GROWING MORE AND MORE HEADS**

**LIKE A FREAKING HYDRA**

* * *

"Well… this is getting off topic; it's going to be a bit of a history lesson in fact more than a bit …" Agatha began.

"Ah, Tracy would you be dear and get us some tea and some of those ginger snaps?" Agatha said giving the Pokémon watcher a "sweet" smile.

Max turned just noticing the young man who entered the "house" portion of the building from the lab. Max couldn't help notice that the young assistant's normally laid back and free demeanor was absent, replaced by what seemed a mixture of timidity, apprehension and submission, Max couldn't help but think it was related to Agatha's presence.

"Yes, Mrs. Oak right away! I'll be right back!" Tracy bolted for the kitchen like he had been shot. Max thought that perhaps Mrs. Oak's smile, at least in Tracy's mind promised a worse fate should he fail her.

"Where was I?"

"Ah yes, as it were the world up until 130 years ago was made up of many different nations that were for the most part always fighting with each other. It was only after the last Great War decimated much of the world that the last president of the Issuian Republic and the Prime minster of the Kalosian Federation along with other world leaders succeeded in uniting all nations under a single world government."

"And the rest of the world agreed?" Max knew practically "everything" about Pokémon but he never had heard of this before, mainly because, he guessed it never came up in dinner table conversation or Pokémon encyclopedias.

"They really had no choice in the matter, you see at the time a war waged between Isshu – of which Unvoa was one of fifty provinces – and Kalos a federation of many nations under the name and banner of its largest member. Soon after, Johto joined on the side of Kalos along with Orre and Ransei. Kanto, Hoenn and the Orange Archipelago sided with Isshu. Sinnoh, however, declared itself neutral and sealed itself off from the rest of the world."

"Here's the tea and those cookies Mrs. Oak." Tracy said as he came racing in, briskly setting the tea set down with a plate of ginger cookies, he straightened up, nodding to both Oaks.

"Now if anyone needs me I'll be tending to the water Pokémon ... At the far pond… On the other side of the Ranch... It may take a while, so ummmm bye!" was all he said before practically throwing himself out the back door.

"Nice boy, he has a great work ethic, a bit timid though." Agatha thoughtfully observed.

Max and the Professor eyed each other cautiously, each quit aware that if either were to slip and let loose their suppressed snickers, it would spell their doom.

"About Sinnoh?" Max asked, "How was it able to do that? The continent of Aisa is made up of Orre, Kanto, Johto and Sinnoh. Sure the mountains in the west of Kanto and the east of Johto fuse into a big range that then runs up north through Sinnoh becoming Mt. Coronet but was that enough of a barrier to invasion?" Now Max was curious this "ancient history" was interesting to say the least.

"It didn't need to be." Professor Oak interjected.

"Hun?"

"The Kingdom of Sinnoh, foreseeing the coming war built a weapon of unbelievable power as a deterrent, using the relics of their past. It collected; focused and amplified the power of solar and Hyperbeams from hundreds of thousands of Pokémon and fired it as a single devastating burst." The researcher clarified.

Max had seen his fair share of Hyperbeams and Solarbeam was one of his Sceptile's trumps; their devastating power was not unknown to him. 'Though the idea of thousands of them coming together at once, that's just insane' he though.

"Near the end of the war Ransei launched an attack against Sinnoh, and they responded by using this weapon. Never before or since has mankind made a greater mistake." Agatha said with a sigh.

"I'm sorry to keep asking this but what happened?"

"The weapon was far more powerful than anyone could have imagined, Ransei was completely obliterated; the entire subcontinent was blown apart. All that's left now is an archipelago of small scattered islands. The planet itself as a whole suffered severe damage as result of the continent's destruction; the consequences were as expected, terrible. Several tectonic plates were cracked into smaller fragments leading to explosive volcanism, massive tidal waves raced toward mainland Aisa and swept inland as far as where Pewter City stands today, the entire Kanto plain was flooded." Oak explained his face grim, his tone likely as dark anyone had ever heard it.

Max was stunned, his face aghast, how many people and Pokémon must have died when that beam struck; how many more perished when the massive waves crashed into Johto and Kanto, what about Hoenn? He could barely imagine it and frankly, he was horrified at the prospect.

"Soon after a summit was held for peace talks, but apparently they stalled…. Now what happened next has never been proven as anything more than just a fairy tale to explain the near miraculous agreement for peace. As a scientist I can't help but doubt it, considering we have no proof that **HE** even exists, but, according to legend, it was then that Arceus appeared before the amassed people with an ultimatum."

To say that Max was stunned was an understatement. The Original One, the one who according to myth created the entire world, the literal "god" Pokémon or at least the closest thing this world had to a god. 'Why on earth would he appear before the peace council, I guess he might have been rather angry with what everyone had done to "his" world' Max pondered.

"Wh... Wh... Wha... What did…? What did he say… I'm guessing… he wasn't very happy… was he?" Max finally managed to stammer.

"He said that unless man changed his warring and violent ways and strove to live in harmony with each other; Pokémon and nature, humanity would face complete and utter annihilation." Agatha replied for her husband.

"…" "Wow!"

"Yes, quite, if it is in fact true" responded the researcher.

"Now let's get back to what I was talking about, 70 years ago Adam Goodshow, a very, very wealthy entrepreneur at the time went and somehow managed to use his money and connections to start the 6 major leagues that exist today as well as the Royal Grand Championship that crowns the World champion. That is held in Millennial City the World Capital every four years. In fact, Scott Enshida's Battle Frontier is the first new major league like competition created since.

Goodshow intended these tournaments to foster companionship between regions and brotherhood among men, as well as admiration and respect for Pokémon." Agatha continued.

By this point Max was confused and befuddled. 'Respect for Pokémon, weren't people always friend with Pokémon? ' He had seen so many ancient ruins in his travels with Ash that depicted people and Pokémon lived happily side by side.

Professor Oak sensing Max's confusion

After the war in which Pokémon were used as weapons, with few exceptions such as those species kept as pets, Pokémon were seen as either tools of war or vicious wild beasts. Goodshow a Pokémon lover, wanted to change this, and thanks to him the world today is one unrecognizable from the one of a century ago."

"So I'm guessing Charles Goodshow the current league director is related to him?" Max inquired.

"Yes, he is Adam's son and succeeded him when he died some 25 years ago." The Professor confirmed.

"When the leagues first started up, no one really knew what they were doing, it was a new frontier so to speak, the world had recovered for the most part from the war; forests and small towns and villages had replaced the destroyed cities, and people lived a more peaceful pastoral life it was as if time had regressed by a century or more as my mother once said." Agatha reminisced.

"As I was saying, people were quite literally sending children, well I say children but back then the age to start one's Journey was set at 13 and not 10, out into the forests and untamed wilderness with nothing to go on, sure you were less likely to encounter things thugs or Delia's father's goon squads but…"

"AGGIE! That's not something that we should talk about! I don't think even Ash knew about it."

"What? Delia is a sweet young girl, kind and generous, she should feel no shame! It's not her fault that her father's a mob boss." Agatha calmly expressed with slight disdain.

"AHHH! WHAT THE HELL!" Max's brain was having trouble processing this statement; it was only by sheer force of will that he did not faint on the spot.

"Delia's father is Giovanni Sakaki, the Leader of Team Rocket." Agatha stated as simply as if she were talking about the weather.

"…" "…" "…" "Ok, I'm just going file that in some dark corner of my mind and forget about it, we never spoke of this." Max managed to get out struggling to keep both his tone and breathing even.

"Fine by me, I think Sammy's a bit mad at me for letting that one slip." She glanced at her husband who was currently glaring at her.

"O' now where was I again… Ah goon squads, yes…"

"As much as you didn't have to worry about people back then, you were far more likely to be mauled by some vicious Pokémon lurking is some deep forest." She continued

'What large forests? I mean I've seen some big ones but they're talking like they were everywhere.' Max was confused and was about to interrupt Agatha when she stopped him. Only for Professor Oak to interrupt her in Max's stead.

"After the tidal wave swept most of the large cities from the plains of Kanto and Johto as well as areas such as the Orange Islands and parts of Hoenn, massive forests and jungles quickly appeared, sometimes overnight, they grew incredibly fast, reaching ages of maturity that would normally take thousands of years, in the span of only a decade or two. This was likely the work of Celebi and it meant that much of the continent quickly became untamed wilderness that was in time inhabited by all manner of Pokémon, many of advanced evolution and high strength; it was far more dangerous than it was today with the world re-urbanized and much of the land as open plain.

"In fact Pallet town sits on land that before the World War was occupied by one of the largest cities on the planet. What was it called again dear?" Oak asked his wife.

"Still absentminded as usual… Humph… Ah!"

"Tokyo, I believe the name was, it was destroyed by the tsunami." Agatha remembered, as she recalled the name of the long gone metropolis from her mother's stories.

"Now back to my tale" Agatha quipped.

"Not to mention all you were given was an apricorn ball and 'told try not to get yourself killed'." Agatha stated as simply as if she were talking about the weather.

"WHAT!" Max shouted "What about your starter?"

"What about him indeed child?" Agatha replied her smile once again returning.

Max had learned by now that Agatha smiling was not really a good thing.

"…Gen…" a voiced echoed from nowhere, Max had just enough time to notice that his shadow had grown fangs and red eyes before it leaped up from the floor and pounced on him or rather passed through him.

"Wahhh! Ack!" was our hero's undignified response, as he shivered pale a bit shell-shocked from having the ghost phase through his body.

"Gen Gen Gar", At this point Max was quite sure that the Shadow Pokémon was laughing at his predicament which for Max wasn't the least bit funny.

Gengar, now happy to have scared Max shitless, settled down into the shadow of his trainer, likely to wait for Tracy to return so he could have another unfortunate person to victimize.

"I mean how did you get him?"

"Ah, you see the idea of a starter didn't really exist in the classical sense, back then you had to "catch" your starter. She wiggled her index and middle fingers for emphasis "Which pretty much amounted to finding the Pokémon you wanted and getting it to chase around, until it was exhausted then throwing the ball at it. Or in his case beaning a poor hapless Charmander into unconsciousness with a rock." She smirked

"It was an accident and you know it, I slipped on that cliff side trying to get down to it and the rock came loose." Professor Oak attempted to defend himself

"Whatever you say dear whatever you say."

"It was the ijjit on the couch who really spread the idea of starters as pre-trained pokemon, as well as the mass production of those elemental trinity's that flood the world now a day." She said taking a sip of tea.


	4. From the Cutting Room Floor : Delia S

_This was my second attempt to salvage the idea (at least in this story) that Delia Ketchum is Giovanni Sakaki's daughter. Unlike the first I tried to be more subtle this time thought it in the end was cut none the less. I've seen him as her lover or former boyfriend or as her estranged husband, even as her brother once. Considering we do not know just how old Giovanni is I thought that the idea of making him Ash's Grandfather was an interesting one. The first attempt can be found in the other From the Cutting Room Floor chapter. I removed this because it seemed to be like the first removal, unnecessary and just took up room that made the chapter feel bloated._

**FROM THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR, **

**DELIA KETCHUM NE****É SAKAKI**

**THE EIGHTH BRAIN**

**REMOVED BECAUSE IT JUST WAS NOT NECESSARY **

* * *

"Other prominent family?" Max asked confused. 'I'm beginning to wonder if the Professor and his wife always speak in riddles' Max pondered.

"Delia's family, her parents and grandparents; if memory serves they're originally from Unova. People don't really talk about them because of …. Because of well… you see Delia's Grandmother was a very powerful and well respected Anthropologist and Pokémon Mythologist, as was her husband Francesco. They traveled all over the world seeking artifacts, deciphering legends and clues; looking for traces of the ancient civilizations that dotted this land and their relationship with legendary Pokémon ." Oak began.

"However; Francesco went missing in the jungles of South Isshu in the early 1960's, during an expedition to try and locate a rumored colony of Mew living deep in the jungle. It wasn't just him though; in fact the whole expedition party just simply vanished. Lucrezia was never the same after that, she just sort of lost touch with reality." Oak trailed off.

"More like she went flying Zubat crazy." Agatha offered

"Yes, ahem, well" …. The professor struggled to find the words he needed and adjust the ice pack on his leg at the same time. "She ended up nearly bankrupting the family financing all sorts of searches and schemes to find him, the only thing that saved the family from complete insolvency was that her son, Delia's father finally had her committed. She died not too long after that, cursing Mew as the reason for her unhappiness, believing it was responsible for Francesco's disappearance."

"Back to what I was talking about" Agatha said trying to move the conversation back on track

and break the awkward silence that had descended on the room.


	5. Author's Notice (Story Hiatus)

**Major Update to Story Progress and Authors notes.**

Greetings, Friends and faithful readers of _The Eighth Brain and The Devil's Grin._

I know that this is not the story update that either of the fans of my two stories were hoping for, but please allow me to explain, both the reason for the lack of updates and what will happen going forward.

On the `9th of August my mother fell gravely ill with what eventually became a systemic bacterial infection. Also known as sepsis or blood poisoning, it is life threating. For the first few days we thought that were going to lose her. The infection had shut down her kidneys and was affecting all the other major organ systems, in particular her heart. A few days later she stabilized but it the doctors said she would need weeks to recover. My father who still teaches at a local college could not be there for her all the time; thus for most of August I remained at her bedside until I returned to college myself on the 20th. Thus in addition to my classes and applications to grad school I had to deal with constant worry and call's home to inquire of my mom's condition. I learned today September 9th that the doctors cleared her for release and that given time she will make a full recovery.

With her recovery now one less thing to worry about, I can finally get back to my stories. The issue is that my muse for _The Devil's Grin _has been completely quashed by recent events and As for _The Eighth Brain_ I still have yet to regain my confidence and muse for it as well. As such both stories are going into Hiatus or in the case of the latter stay in Hiatus until inspiration returns, which, given the capricious nature of my imagination shouldn't be too very long. **AGAIN the stories are not being abandoned; they will be continued at a later date.**

With the above in mind I am now in need of a story to work on and I have several ideas from which you can choose from. There is a poll with the individual stories for which you can vote on my profile. And individual outlines of each of them can be found at the base of my profile page above the actual story links. Whichever story reaches 10 votes first will be declared the winner (and if none reach ten then the one with the highest number will be declared the winner one Saturday the 7th).

You are free to vote for whichever one you choose, but I will say this, the Pokémon ones are much farther along in the ideas department than the other ones, meaning that not only will they likely have chapters out earlier, but there will be more chapters in succession in a timely manner than with the others. Note I will start on the winning story on Saturday at the latest, but if the vote closes earlier then I will start earlier, i.e. the first chapter could be out by Friday night if I get in the 10 votes Thursday.

I again thank you for your patience and understanding, none of this was intended or foreseen.

Sincerely,

Johannes The Egg Emperor.


End file.
